Sunny in Shards
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day three hundred: Everything would change over the fate of a glass turtle.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 13th cycle. Now cycle 14!_

_A/N: It's the 300th day, I can't believe it! :D All you guys are just awesome to continue seeing me through :) Now this little thing I want to share with you, I made it for the 200th day elsewhere, but links are a pain here so I couldn't share it with you guys. But I've sort of done it now with the graphics for 'No Evil' so here we are... :)  
**http : [slash slash] pics [dot] livejournal [dot] com [slash] mooners [slash] pic [slash] 002yhhfy** _

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"Sunny in Shards"**  
**Rachel & Quinn  
Sunshine Girls #15 (Sequel to "The Sun Hides Behind The Mountain")**

It had been more than two years now, since two young girls had found each other and, under the aliases of Beams and Rays, had vowed to spread warmth and joy as the All-Mighty Sunshine Girls. For most of that time it had just been them two, until a few months before, when they had been joined by a small helper, a glass turtle they named Sunny.

It was a new aspect for their mad adventures, and they absolutely loved it, loved her… Miss Sunny, Queen of the Turtle People, who had come to help spread sunshine above water after having done it for years and years under water. No one could know she was the queen; she was in disguise.

Despite Rachel's requests, Quinn would never bring Sunny to the Berry house. She'd claim it wasn't safe for her, that the evil Sea Weed People would come out and they'd hurt her, keep her from spreading her sunshine. Rachel surely didn't want to risk that, so she agreed. After a while though, she'd wonder if she just didn't want to bring her. The solution then became to just play at Quinn's house as much as possible, where they could rely on Sunny's wisdom.

On this particular day, they had found it too hot to play inside, so they'd headed into the backyard, where Mr. Fabray had inflated and filled the plastic pool. The two of them would sit on their knees at the edge of the round pool as it was being filled, dipping their hands in the water, dragging their fingers along. It was then that Rachel had remembered her goggles, which she'd brought along just in case. Quinn stayed at the pool, hands in the water while Rachel ran up to look in her bag, which she'd left at the top of the stairs. She retrieved the red goggles and put them around her neck. She was about to head back down, but then she thought about poor Sunny, left alone in the heat.

She entered Quinn's room, moving toward their 'headquarters,' and pulling back the hung bed sheet to reveal Sunny perched on her cushion throne. Rachel crouched down and picked up the glass turtle. Her fingers were still wet from the pool and the glass slipped, but she kept it safe by bringing it closer to herself. She breathed out, relieved, but at the same time it made her wonder… Maybe it'd be best if Sunny stayed inside.

"Sorry, Sunny," she'd turned the turtle so to see its face, standing back up. "But you'll be safer in here," she promised, grasping it with both hands to put it back in its place. She'd just extended her arms out to bend and put it back and… it slipped in her wet hands once again.

Only this time she wasn't fast enough and, in her scramble to stabilize the glass turtle, it flipped upward and then did as gravity dictated, bringing it to a crash. Rachel had panicked right away, hands plastering themselves on her face, over her eyes. It took her a few seconds, both to catch her breath and to allow herself to look.

The Turtle Queen lay in pieces… hardly recognizable. Now Rachel's hands moved to cover her mouth. Rachel crouched in front of the pieces, uncertain what to do. Her fathers had made it very clear that she shouldn't touch broken glass, but… she couldn't just leave it there…

And then all the bad ideas came into her mind, of what would happen when Quinn found out. They may both have loved the turtle, but it was Quinn's. She'd trusted Rachel with it, even if she wouldn't take her out of the house. It had come from her grandmother, and it was special. The worst of the outcomes that could come to pass finally invaded her mind, and it froze her.

What if Quinn didn't want to be friends anymore? No, it couldn't… she wouldn't… couldn't…

Now properly panicked, Rachel stood back up, her tiny girl courage was fading and threatening into big girl tears if she didn't find a way to prevent this. She looked around, desperate.

Then she remembered, there was a space near the wall, it would open and she could get it in there. Quinn had showed it to her once, made her promise not to tell… No, Quinn might find it there… She didn't have much of a choice though; they'd start to wonder. It was deep… It could be Sunny had somehow fallen in… It would have to do… It was the only solution she had which didn't include putting her friendship on the line. In her young mind, it made sense. So she'd busied at pushing-but-not-touching the glass into the hole. When she was done, she sniffled and wiped at her eyes. She put on her goggles and went back outside. Unable to find Quinn, she looked around. "Quinn?" she moved forward, only to be surprised by the blonde springing from the water with a squeal. Rachel screeched as she was tugged to follow into the water, both of them re-emerging in giggles a moment later.

"What took you so long?" Quinn went on laughing, trying to get the strands of blonde hair plastered on her face out of the way. Rachel hesitated, paddling along.

"I, uh… bathroom," she simply told her. Quinn nodded, then smirked. Rachel knew that face, and she returned it, even responded in advance. "Race you!" It was a short 'track,' but they were small.

This was why she'd had to do it, for both of them… to her, there was logic in it. Quinn mattered too much.

THE END

_[A/N: Attention, reader! If you're at all skilled in helping break fic-planning conundrums, give a big ol' shout! :D]  
(Note to self, don't put the words 'crack' and 'fic' next to each other, it leads to confusion ;)) _

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**_[A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, story alert won't get you anything! ;)]_**


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